Joined A Political Party

I haven't posted here in a while so I thought I'd give an update on a positive thing that has happened in my life. I joined a political party, and have been spending a lot of time around people who think a lot alike me, and doing things which make me feel really good as a person. Also learning a lot. They are called Socialist Action... and I don't mind mentioning specifically that it is leftist because I do not mind a debate. I've met the guys over the past year or two because they're at every even remotely political event in Connecticut. They are really great guys. I have been doing something party-related almost every day the past week. A rally, a campaign, distributing fliers.

I am becoming a better person because of this party, in ways that are not even related to politics. We have to make phone calls to people on our mailing list to let them know about certain events. How anxiety provoking that is. Talking to a stranger on the phone, calling them up out of the blue. Automatically all those feelings of judgment and what they think of me surface, but I have to keep doing it anyway. Everyone else is... I can't just say count me out! So I force myself to do it and you become more confident, less afraid, and I can take that outside the party and use it in every day life. To care less what others think, to be less afraid, to talk to strangers and meet new people! I also know that they teach public speaking! That is also very scary for me, but it is something if I push myself and allow others to push me, it will make me a better person.

So I have been feeling pretty better lately because of this and other reasons. I am playing in two bands that are very serious are practicing often. Also I am on a new drug called Suboxone which I was also going to write a forum post about but I'll just leave it at that slight mention for now, and possibly get into more details later. But yeah a lot of good things are happening around me externally, and that is very slowly but surely helping me to feel better internally.

Good for you, there is a Socialist Action in the UK but i'm not sure if they are affiliated. I do know that the UK group is very small in numbers. I'm a member of Anarchist Federation although in the past I have been involved with Class War, Reclaim the Streets and Anarchist Black Cross. The biggest problem you will find with most left wing groups is they tend to serve their own agenda's and and are prone to political infighting which is a real shame. I have been writing a book fotr a while know called 'A blueprint for revolution' which explores anarcho-communism and in particular propaganda of the deed which I am an partisan to.

Yes I am very attracted to Anarchist philosophy as well, and have studied it. I read a lot of Anarchist material before I joined this socialist party as well to make sure I didn't line up more with that ideology, because it is a commitment. These are great guys, and I have become friends with them over the last year. I went to their national convention before I joined, and did not see any fighting. They believe in democratic centralism. I have noticed infighting in other organizations around here, but perhaps that's why I chose Socialist Action instead. That is really cool that there is a group in the UK too. They are international.

Definitely send me a copy of that book when you're done... or let me know where I can purchase it. I'll add you as a friend on the forum!

Most anarchists and socialists want the same thing. We both want the abolition of the state, just disagree on how to get there. And hey, if anarchists were right, it really doesn't matter! Whatever gets the job done. I think you need that transitionary period, but it wouldn't really matter if I were wrong as long as the goal is reached. I also chose them because they are the most active group in my area, and I'm going to be learning and doing a lot. They are everywhere. I couldn't have not found out about them because I saw them everywhere that something even remotely political was going on.

I haven't posted here in a while so I thought I'd give an update on a positive thing that has happened in my life. I joined a political party, and have been spending a lot of time around people who think a lot alike me, and doing things which make me feel really good as a person. Also learning a lot. They are called Socialist Action... and I don't mind mentioning specifically that it is leftist because I do not mind a debate. I've met the guys over the past year or two because they're at every even remotely political event in Connecticut. They are really great guys. I have been doing something party-related almost every day the past week. A rally, a campaign, distributing fliers.

I am becoming a better person because of this party, in ways that are not even related to politics. We have to make phone calls to people on our mailing list to let them know about certain events. How anxiety provoking that is. Talking to a stranger on the phone, calling them up out of the blue. Automatically all those feelings of judgment and what they think of me surface, but I have to keep doing it anyway. Everyone else is... I can't just say count me out! So I force myself to do it and you become more confident, less afraid, and I can take that outside the party and use it in every day life. To care less what others think, to be less afraid, to talk to strangers and meet new people! I also know that they teach public speaking! That is also very scary for me, but it is something if I push myself and allow others to push me, it will make me a better person.

So I have been feeling pretty better lately because of this and other reasons. I am playing in two bands that are very serious are practicing often. Also I am on a new drug called Suboxone which I was also going to write a forum post about but I'll just leave it at that slight mention for now, and possibly get into more details later. But yeah a lot of good things are happening around me externally, and that is very slowly but surely helping me to feel better internally.

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I am happy for you. I know what you're meaning to say when you say that this is helping you many different ways.

I'm going to explain my positions on things. We're not all so different.

I'm actually a member of the republican party. It's funny because i've voted for democrats and republicans in the past.

This last presidential election really confused me. I liked both candidates. I liked Obama because he was black and also because he was young and could bring some energy to a position that's traditionally reserved for older candidates. I welcomed energy and that's what Obama. I liked McCain because when he spoke I could feel him. I didn't feel anything when Obama spoke. McCain also served and since we were already in a war I thought that his experience might help the country, but then again it could hurt it too. But that could go either way. Obama and/or McCain both could make it worse because of their prior prejudices. And another thing in McCain's favor is that he was more of a moderate republican than Obama was a moderate democrat. You have to think in relative terms. And lastly, McCain did not break his promise about campaign finance reform. I can't recall the exact details, but Obama did and as a result ended up spending more money. When I finally did vote for president, after some dismay, I voted for an independent. You may ask whY? I mean, I wrote a lot of good things here about McCain. Well, I can answer that simply by saying Sara. I was terrified what would happen if McCain went deceased during his term and Sara became president. Sara is not McCain, so that drove me away from McCain for sure. I also had some resentment about the broad republican support for the iraq war, which I disagreed with on principle (the information we used to justify action was a lie, and colin powell himself has admitted this).

So in the past two presidential elections I've voted for independents. I voted for Al Gore in 2000. I voted for Ross Perot in the previous election before that one. But in my state I'm registered as a republican. Lol. I did vote for the republican candidate, but only because I thought he offered something new in a state that's predominantly blue. You see, I'm not a republican or a democrat. I change too much to be one thing. In fact, I don't even know why or how I am registered as a republican. I don't remember filling out any paper work for it. In any case, I change too much to be anything for long.

What I'm worried about politically is how they're going to balance the budgets. We're crippled right now. The republicans are saying to shrink government, the democrats are saying to increase taxes. The republicans are saying that the democrats will increase taxes now but keep them later when the economy is better. The democrats are saying that the republicans will shrink government now but will keep it that way when the economy gets better. Me, I feel the truth is a mix of everything. I don't think in terms of either/or like they do. We just need to balance the budget and compromise.

It's what we do when times are good that matters. When times were good we had a housing bubble and any number of other things, like a botched war in iraq that should not have been fought on the reasoning we agreed to back then. When times are good we need to be a lot more cautious what we do. The problem is that when times are good we take too many chances and break up and when times are bad we get too hesitant and it becomes a witch hunt. I think it's because we as a people are disconnected from what happens in government and government sweeps things under the rug. It's like there's a wall built up between the two. I'm not sure, though. Perhaps recessions will always happen no matter what our efforts are.

I don't like how our deficit is so large. We're living on credit. It's not good when currency is not backed by actual value.

Definitely send me a copy of that book when you're done... or let me know where I can purchase it. I'll add you as a friend on the forum!

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I will do, I have a publisher called AK Press who are going to put it out, by the very nature of the book it won't sell many copies, but I'm not doing it for the money. It will probably do better as a PDF download. I reckon I am 85% done.

I will do, I have a publisher called AK Press who are going to put it out, by the very nature of the book it won't sell many copies, but I'm not doing it for the money. It will probably do better as a PDF download. I reckon I am 85% done.

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Oh AK Press I have heard of them! I haven't had too much time to explore (I have a million and one websites I have written down to explore), but it looked like a really great organization!

What I'm worried about politically is how they're going to balance the budgets. We're crippled right now. The republicans are saying to shrink government, the democrats are saying to increase taxes. The republicans are saying that the democrats will increase taxes now but keep them later when the economy is better. The democrats are saying that the republicans will shrink government now but will keep it that way when the economy gets better. Me, I feel the truth is a mix of everything. I don't think in terms of either/or like they do. We just need to balance the budget and compromise.

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But the democrats aren't saying raise taxes. The Republicans are saying the democrats want to raise taxes to make them look bad. And the media is saying the democrats want to raise taxes because their heads will explode if it is not neatly balanced like that. One side says cut spending, the other side says raise taxes. If that truly were the conversation then we might have a good deal meeting somewhere in the middle. But Obama came out after the largest spending cut in history and said that it was a great day. It was not a great day. The politicians, being bought and paid for, are only cutting spending for middle and low income people. Those are the ones that will be hurt. It is not a great day when more Americans have the potential of freezing to death in the winter as a result of cutting heating assistance to the poor. That is a terrible day!

The military-industrial complex won't hurt. Wall street and the big banks won't hurt. In fact in this recession they caused they are the ones getting record bonuses. Only a few brave democrats have had the courage to say Tax the rich! And that's why I love guys like Bernie Sanders and Anthony Weiner.